Love forever, love is free –
At least that's what we're told. In our fairy tales with kingdoms by the sea.
A white dress,
An alter,
A bouquet...
So it becomes ironic really, how much reality can deviate.
Love has many faces, forms, and natures. In fact, the idea of love is so vague and all encompassing that it is rendered almost completely meaningless.
There is that of the unrequited variety, bittersweet and faithful.
And the unconditional love, that seems to go hand in hand in that which is unrequited. After all love that is unrequited love is unconditional though it is not exactly so the other way around. Though, when given deeper thought, it seems that love isn't really love unless it is unconditional.
These are some of the most purest forms of love, Almost untainted by the darker nature of such a frighteningly powerful emotion. Love is gentle enough to raise a child, love is powerful enough to bring the world crashing down in catastrophe, to bring everything to its knees.
Love can make you go mad.
So vague, so contradictory.
Meaningless.
Perhaps one of the most common manifestations of love is that of friendship, loyalty...
– Almost familial
This love mostly overlaps with that of the unconditional variety.
Just like what was shared between Kurai and Arachne.
This love, you can depend on, it isn't as passionate as many of the others (and by proxy isn't subject to the fickle whimsies that passion brings, nor the darker side of possession and jealously), and though rather tame compared to the others, should never have its power underestimated.
After all, it can save your life, right? Set-chan?
Probably coming in at a close second is that of the unrequited variety. A very close second. A tragic and morose thing. Hopeless and determined.
Like a Belial to Lucifer
Kurai to Setsuna
Michael to Baru
Uriel to Alexiel
And the list goes on...
It's a wonder, truly how so many cling to and trod down this hopeless road, driven by something that holds no meaning at all.
Unrequited love is unconditional but unconditional love isn't always unrequited.
This fact makes it almost all the more tragic. A beautiful tragedy. Unrequited love is a concept incomprehensible and wholly alien to those who have not experienced it. Perhaps another reason why it is often scoffed at.
Yet another similarity it shares with unconditional love. Often thought foolish and naïve.
Kurai is an idealist, a fact she takes great effort to try to hide. This is why she is able to love Setsuna without becoming bitter and torn (at least to a certain point anyway).
Love can make angels out of demons.
However, that is not to say that all people of strong ideals aren't immune to the darker fallacies of unrequited love.
Uriel was one such...
One with high morals,
and even loftier ideals.
But he would end up a bitter and anguished man, caught within his own web of self-loathing and disgust. Oh no, do not misunderstand, Uriel is still the idealist. This was never in question, and it was never portrayed more clearly than when he allowed Katou to release the wormwood. Somewhere, buried beneath his shame and remorse he still genuinely believed.
Alexiel forgave him a long time ago.
It is he who cannot live with himself.
Then there is Belial's blind devotion. Or perhaps not so blind.
Despite her whimsical mannerisms, she knows and sees much more than she lets on. After all, one doesn't become the right hand of Lucifer on loyalty alone.
The devotion Belial has for her lord is perhaps only one she herself will ever fully understand.
God named her worthless.
And so she sought to fulfill that name... or so she says
All those that fell before her feet with a single glance – worthless.
However, not matter how "worthless" Belial sought to make herself, subconsciously or not she was trying to prove her worth.
Which brings us to our next point..
Perhaps Belial was not in love with Lucifer per se, but rather to the idea that he embodies to her.
If one can make a man who cares nothing for you (at least in the romantic sense) fall in love with you, then who can call you worthless?
That's right, no one.
Dreams are unattainable, so the moment they are fulfilled they cease to exist. It becomes another past goal, a nice memory.
Belial's love ends the moment it begins.
The one single instant is what she lives for because in that moment she will feel her worth.
But only for a moment.
Dreams cease to be the moment they come true.
… And then, they too, become worthless...
Belial's love though unrequited is woven with intricacies and complexities that almost make it anything but.
Then there is Barubelo to Lucifer.
A classic textbook example of unrequited love gone wrong. Perhaps it started out innocently enough. Sweet and pure. It was twisted and drawn into tangles of jealousy and malcontent.
Love can make demons out of angels.
Not all love is so clear. So apparent. Love comes in all shapes and forms. Sometimes it stares you in the face and you're none the wiser. That was the case with Raphael. He was blind right up until it was almost too late. Now he faces the consequences of his inability to see. You reap what you sow.
Kurai was also victim in a similar predicament. She didn't know that she loved Setsuna until after she was far gone enough to not come back, and well, he'll probably never realize to what extent Kurai adored him.
Yes, people do tend to miss what's before them, no matter how glaringly obvious.
Love is diverse.
It takes in so many different forms. Some easier, some more difficult. But there is one that, in its radiance and selfishness pushes all of it aside.
It is essentially love in its rawest form.
So bright and hot, it burns, both to see and to feel.
This is the kind of love that will bring empires to their knees, and completely reshuffle anything in its path.
Perhaps the greatest example of this is what Setsuna and Sara shared. Setsuna braved death, hell, and even God himself. They did every conceivable thing in the name of their love. They left destruction in their wake.
But most importantly, they left hope among the ruins of despair. And hope isn't so easily inspired as one would think.
This hope they left in their wake (at the risk of sounding cliché) shook the foundations and re-defined everything in known existence. And perhaps a few things that weren't even.
You know what they say, "get too close to the sun and you're going to get burned." Such was the case for those two. Without even consciously realizing it (at least at first) they hurt those around them.
It is the type of love everybody longs for. Fantasized about. Dreams, hops, desires.
It is also the same kind people cower from, too afraid to take the chance, the risk this kind of love entails.
Love becomes indescribable.
Vague.
Meaningless.
No matter how you seek to define it.
No matter how many times you (attempt to) describe it. In whatever fashion.
Love is also very general.
(I am love, you are love, this is love....)
It includes so many little hitches and details.
Love has no meaning –
unless you apply one to it.
After all braving heaven and hell isn't exactly some one would do for a vague meaningless concept now... is it?